Jason Caron had his best week at the Senior PGA. Now the club pro has a tour card again: Analysis
The words without context would sound ridiculous, which is about the only way Jason Caron can describe his last five months.
“What am I supposed to do now? This ruins all my dreams. Now I have to play golf.”
He said this with a heavy dose of sarcasm because Caron still can't grasp how he went from loving life as a Long Island club pro to playing in the season finale next week on the PGA Tour Champions and earning a full card, his first on any tour in 16 years.
Truthfully, there are equal parts joy and amazement.
Caron, the 52-year-old head professional at The Mill River Club, tied for fourth in the Senior PGA Championship in late May. He parlayed that superb week into a few PGA Tour Champions events, one of them a tie for third. And then he got in a few more, including a tie for fourth.
And on Sunday, he shot 68 to tie for third in the Simmons Bank Championship and narrowly made the 36-man field for the Charles Schwab Cup Championship next week in Phoenix. That comes with a full card for 2025, the ultimate side job he never even sought.
“I never thought about playing in anything, to be honest,” Caron said upon arriving home Monday in Oyster Bay, New York. "I never wanted to go to Q-school, never crossed my mind. I went and played golf (in the Senior PGA) and it happened to be pretty good.
“I have no concept how this happened,” he said. “It's not supposed to happen to me. When I got done and they told me I was in the top 36 and was like, ‘Huh? How could that be?’”
Chasing a tour card is what Caron gave up in 2009 after 10 years and 231 tournaments — two full years on the PGA Tour, the rest on what is now the Korn Ferry Tour. He met LPGA player Liz Janangelo at an art gallery toward the end of the run, his and hers. They married and both decided to use their skill set to teach.
Caron went to Siwanoy Country Club as an assistant, his wife went to the Country Club of Purchase nearby, and it wasn't long before The Mill River Club hired them both. They have the best of both worlds, two daughters and careers in golf. And they can compete — the Metropolitan section is reputed to have the best players of all PGA of America sections.
Caron went to Benton Harbor, Michigan, for the Senior PGA Championship, contended the entire week and tied for fourth. That was the start of one of those little surprises in life.
“If you lined up 100 golfers to tell me which one would finish in the top 36 on the PGA Tour Champions, he would not be one of the 100,” longtime friend Brett Quigley said. "Not because he's not good enough, it just wasn't on his radar. He's been 10 years at Mill River. He and Liz are doing phenomenal jobs. They love the life there.
“Jason has always been a great player," Quigley said. "It just shows you the fine line between making it and not.”
Making it was not even on Caron's mind until Benton Harbor. Two weeks later, he found out he was seventh alternate for a PGA Tour Champions event. Caron was about to tee off in the Long Island Open when he heard from a friend that he had a decent chance to get in. He flew to Wisconsin, got the last spot and tied for 31st.
He was fourth alternate for the Rogers Charity Classic in Canada, got in and tied for third. Jim Furyk was impressed enough to give him an exemption to his Champions event in Jacksonville, Florida, and Caron tied for fourth. And on it went.
He only played nine of the 27 tournaments (earning $616,243) and still reached the season finale, where he will tee it up with Ernie Els and Padraig Harrington and Vijay Singh.
“To finish in the top 36 on the Champions Tour is no small feat,” Quigley said. “To do it in a limited amount of events is no small feat. And to do while working as a club pro? The odds of that ever happening has got to be so small. It's so impressive.”
And yes, he is still a club pro. That remains a dream job. This has been pure fantasy.
Caron said Quigley gave him an idea of what the schedule would look like in 2025, and he already can see the possibilities. Opening day for The Mill River Club coming out of the New York cold is usually the first week in May. There should be about six tournaments he could play, and that's before some of the majors he's now in.
There has been strong support from the club. He played when he could get in and wasn't needed at Mill River.
“They’re been good about letting me do that,” Caron said. "And I’ve gotten so many messages from the membership about my results. I think they like it. It’s good for myself, my family, the Mill River family.”
It's been nothing short of a joy ride for a club pro who thought he left tour life for good 15 years ago and really wasn't interested in finding it again.
Maybe it's different with a free pass — “I already have a great life at home,” he said — and Caron can't help but wonder if playing for the sheer love of the game instead of it being a job is making a world of difference.
He had no idea where it would lead, only that he won't be chasing it like he once did.
“I don't see myself not having a job at Mill River," he said. “We have two little kids. I don't want to be running around chasing a white golf ball when I could be watching my girls grow up.”
The best of both worlds just got even better.
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